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Re: 60 to One

It's my birthday today! You should be giving me the gifts but here's one for you anyway.

Update 50Years: 4, Months: 50, Days: 1516

So, we reach the half ton of updates, and the managers reach their 1500th day in charge of their clubs. Fortunately, the baking heat of the summer has been dissipated in England, although the weather is still fine. None of our managers are under pressure and so the conditions couldn’t be better to celebrate a 50th update, or a 50th month in management.

To be honest, the month hasn’t been that interesting. The English Premier League has kicked off, as his the Spanish La Liga. But in Spain, our two teams have not played any domestic fixtures, and the Italian Serie A hasn’t even yet started. But there were some big transfers, with two big spenders in particular. Aside from those two, who I’ll cover later, Lucas Volman signed Simon Kjær for Barcelona, taking him off the hands of Villarreal for £14.5M. But the Spanish giants were still in profit for the month, selling Diogo to Valencia for £10.75M, Hernanes to Sevilla for £9.5M, Emilio Roca to Leicester for £2M and Miguel to Valladolid for £1.8M. Leo Dodge welcomed Ibrahim Afellay to White Hart Lane after he signed the Dutchman from Liverpool for £10.5M. Jonte Rhodes at Lazio signed Celtic’s Simone Padoin for £8.25M, as well as Atalanta’s Albin Ekdal for £3.4M and Lecce’s Raffaele Schiavi for £2.2M. Super Lampard’s team made a number of outgoing transfers this month. As well as Schiavi leaving, Matteo Ferrari quit for Genoa for £2.4M and Cristhian Stuani left for Bologna for £2.3M. The English manager brought in Schalke’s Massimo Gobbi for that same price. Tim Aubel’s Fulham made a few moves in the month, selling Adam Lallana to Sunderland for £5M and signing Richard Stearman from Wolves for £2.1M.

Other than those who might drop into the competition from the Champions League, Bryan McGuinness’s Everton are our only representatives in the Europa League. The Toffees this month travelled to Monaco to contest the European Super Cup. Gonzalo Higuaín scored the winner and only goal for their opponents Real Madrid, and in truth the Spaniards deserved to win by a bigger margin. In that sense, therefore, it was a solid performance from Everton and a true experience to be sure. Other Super Cups taking place this month were the Italian one, where Ben Cee’s Inter lost 1-2 to Napoli, the Spanish one, where Atlético Madrid beat Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona 2-2 on away goals, and the English Community Shield, which was won by Arsenal, 2-1 over Man City.

While Everton are the only team of ours in the Europa League, being the only team allowed to skip qualifying in their position as the holders, we have three pairs of our teams clashing in the Champions League. First, the final qualifying round, which saw two of our teams. Tom Smith’s Arsenal came to a 0-0 draw at Ibrox, but beat Rangers 3-0 in the second leg of their qualifying match. And the team at the other end of the alphabet, Tyler Burrows’s Udinese won 3-1 away and 3-0 at home to knock out Russians Lokomotiv Moscow in style. Udinese are one of the teams involved in the clashes between our teams, and they are joined in Group G by Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona, as well as Olympique de Marseille and Austria Wien. Arsenal have an easier group, facing Partizan Belgarde, Sporting CP and Spartak Moscow. Lucas Volman and Lord Weeman will meet in their Group B, with holders Real Madrid facing Italian champions Napoli. Besiktas and Celtic will most likely end up competing for 3rd place. And Ben Cee’s Inter and Liam Ferguson’s Man City will also play each other, this in Group F, with Hapoel Tel-Aviv and HSV completing the group. Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina have a tough group, facing Man United, Zaragoza and Zürich. Tottenham have an easier group, facing Fiorentina, Aris and Br*øndby.

Now, back to those transfers, and those two managers spending quite a bit of moolah. At Napoli, Lord Weeman made four major transfers: winger-striker Takayuki Morimoto joined from Sampdoria for £16.5M, attacking midfielder Fernandinho joined from Genoa for £11M, left winger and leftback Filipe joined from Deportivo for £9M and attacking midfielder-cum-forward Choco joined from Feyenoord for £8.25M. Needless to say, the first of those is Japanese and the last three are Brazilian. At Man City, Liam Ferguson made two major transfers: Burkinabe midfielder Charles Kaboré joined from Roma for £15.25M and Turkish midfielder Arda joined from Galatasaray for £15.5M. Both are versatile players, and look like good signings for the Man City boss so far.

Now, without further ado, onto the only domestic action of interest of the month. Two games have been played by each team in the English Premier League, and Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough have not fared too well so far. They sit 19th without any points, just above bottom-placed Leeds. A trip to Tim Aubel’s Fulham saw a 2-4 loss and a home tie against Man City saw a 1-4 loss. As a consolation, Peterborough were beaten 2-0 in an away tie in the Carling Cup 2nd Round. Fulham lost their second game, away to Aston Villa, 0-3, but won 1-0 after extra time at home to Scunthorpe in the League Cup. Our other four teams crowd the top five: Man City top on 6 points, shared with Man United and Tottenham. Spurs beat Aston Villa 2-1 at home and Wigan 2-0 away. Everton, Arsenal and Liverpool are on 4 points. Everton beat Newcastle 3-0 at drew 3-3 away to Blackburn, while Tom Smith’s side drew 1-1 away to Stoke (Andrés Guardado’s injury there keeps him out for just two weeks, thankfully) and beat Birmingham 3-0 at home, with a missed penalty to boot.

So, all of our managers are currently Stable or better. It’s been a good month, and every single one of them is looking forward to the new season with anticipation. Well…except for perhaps Ricky Nakano who, if this month is an indication, may not keep his job ‘til the end.

Manager of the UpdateMy choice for this momentous 50th Manager of the Month is;

Lucas Volman, Real Madrid

who not only won the European Super Cup, but made quite a profit from many outgoing transfers. Lord Weeman is evidently keen to keep his mitts on the Serie A title, hence a lot of spending, and he also secured the Italian Super Cup this month, while Liam Ferguson tops the Premier League with Man City and spent a lot of time and money on transfers. Yet Volman’s ability to whip up a profit while performing well wins him this accolade.

Re: 60 to One

Happy Birthday Canvey, great to see Jonte Rhodes holding his job and getting some good deals into the squad to replace his big sale last month, hopefully by the end of the next month the signings have shown their worth.

Re: 60 to One

Update 51Years: 4, Months: 51, Days: 1546

It is the start of October and September has just been completed. Needless to say, that means the football season has truly kicked off, and our seventeen managers will have to hold on tight to the rollercoaster of the football season if they expect to still be holding on come the end. Last season saw 12 dismissals; if we have the same this season, we would be down to just under a half dozen managers plying their trade. We’ll start, for a change, with the Champions League.

Each team has played one game and it is impossible to deny that Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona have had the best start. Austria Wien were the Spaniard’s opponents in the first game, and Madridstas’s team matched the current record set by Man City in 2011 for a Champions League win, smashing their Alpine opponents 9-0. In addition to this, 4-0, 3-0, 4-2 and 3-2 wins, as well as a 1-1 draw, have put the team top of La Liga after five games played. The other big team Real Madrid, who beat Celtic 4-0 in their Champions League, sit a point behind Barcelona after having lost one rather than drawn it, with Atlético Madrid separating the two on as many points as Barça with obviously an inferior goal difference. Back to the Champions League, Barcelona’s groupmates, Tyler Burrows’s Udinese, also won, beating Marseille 3-1 in France. In other groups, Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina narrowly beat Zaragoza 2-1 to go second in their group behind Man United, Napoli beat Besiktas 3-1 to go just behind Real Madrid, and Leo Dodge’s Tottenham also entered themselves into history, matching Madridstas’s result in thrashing Aris Thessalonika 9-0. This is good news for me as it means that the Greek team’s current manager cannot be worse than me when I managed them in FM2006. However, the truth be told, I failed to get them out of the second division, whereas he has got them into the Champions League. But I went on to manage Canvey Island and a legend was born… In Group F, Inter and Man City shared the points in a positively thrilling 0-0 encouter, and Tom Smith’s Arsenal beat Partisan Belgrade 4-0 to top Group H.

That’s enough of those shenanigans. Let’s move now to Italy, where the league season has started, and Juventus top the tables. Tied with them, however, on 12 points with an 80% winning record, are Ben Cee’s Inter and Tyler Burrows’s Udinese. Inter beat Genoa, Roma, Napoli and Torino, but lost to Fiorentina, while Udinese beat Fiorentina, Brescia, Cagliari and Parma but lost to Napoli. No surprise then that Napoli are fourth, sharing 10 points with Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio. Towards the bottom, James Salter’s Reggina are our worst team, 15th with 5 points, after they beat Cagliari at home and got two draws and two losses from their other games. Cardio Vascular’s Genoa are 14th, beating Roma but also suffering two draws and two losses, and Super Lampard’s Lecce are 13th, beating Cagliari and Parma, drawing with A.C. Milan and losing their other two fixtures.

The Carling Cup Third Round took place this month in England. Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough travelled to Elland Road, the home of fellow Premier League team Leeds, where they won 2-1. Everton thrashed Bristol City 3-0 at Bristol City, with Arsenal matching that result against Preston. Tottenham progressed but Premier League holders Man City went out by losing 0-3 at Anfield, and Tim Aubel’s Fulham went out by losing 0-2 at home to Aston Villa. Liverpool meet Arsenal in the fixture of the next round. Despite their League Cup progress, Nakano’s Middlesbrough aren’t faring too well in the Premier League. Having beaten Leeds away, they beat them by the same scoreline at home to pick up their first win of the season. They lost to Everton and Sunderland this month but drew with West Brom. Boro are currently 18th. Aubel’s Fulham did worse this month, drawing twice and losing twice. They are 15th. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham are second in the league behind Man City, and they won two and drew two this month. Their rivals Arsenal must try harder, sitting as they do in 9th place.

Back to Europe for a second, with the Europa League. As we only have one team in the competition, we only have one team to update on. Bryan McGuinness’s Everton travelled to Romania where they beat Rapid Bucharest 3-0. However, their win wasn’t as good as Juventus’, who beat Lillestrøm 5-0 in Italy. Everton face Juventus at Goodison and then Lillestrøm in Norway next month.

And finally, back to Italy for a look at the Coppa Italia. Super Lampard’s Lecce beat Cagliari 2-1 away to make it into the First Round, while James Salter’s Reggina beat Serie B team Cittadella 3-1 away. Lazio won 3-1, and theirs was at home, to Torino, the former club of manager dafuge, who hasn’t been sacked as Bolton manager yet! However, they are 10th in the Championship despite still being unbeaten. Genoa also made it through the Fourth Qualifying Round, while Napoli and Lecce, Inter and Reggina and Udinese and Lazio form the three pairs of our teams playing against each other in the First Round.

A nice little introductory month to the season, with plenty more still in store. Stay tuned!

Manager of the UpdateThis month’s award goes to;

Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona

for his 9-0 victory in the Champions League and his fine performance in the league. Leo Dodge was another manager to accrue a 9-0 victory but didn’t produce the league results to match, although they made League Cup progress. Tyler Burrows, Ben Cee and Jonte Rhodes are three of our managers that are doing well in Italy.

Re: 60 to One

Re: 60 to One

Update 52Years: 4, Months: 52, Days: 1577

There have been quite a few sackings this month, but the problem is with so few managers that when there are sackings, your managers usually aren’t involved in them. What is more, none of our managers are even close to the sack at present, with Fréderico Canvey being the closest to fall into that category. Despite being super-amazing, he is Very Insecure in his second job as Valladolid manager.

We’ll start in England for this update, where Leo Dodge’s Tottenham have ascended to the top of the Premier League. October saw them win all of their games, from a narrow 1-0 win away to West Brom, to a 4-0 demolition of Leeds at home. They also had the joy of two Champions League group stages victories, quite decisive ones too. A trip to Norway saw a 2-0 victory over Brøndby and a visit from Benfica saw the Portuguese team leaving demoralised after a 0-4 defeat. Liam Ferguson’s Man City have some catching up to do. They are only one point behind Spurs, but are separated from the London club by their own cross-city rivals, José Mourinho’s Manchester United. A trip to Goodison to face Bryan McGuinness’s Everton saw the Toffees win a hard-fought game 1-0, but the Sky Blues improved their performance in the next game at home to Sunderland, a team they thrashed 5-0. They won 1-0 at Fratton Park in their third game of the month, while they achieved their second consecutive Champions League draw with a trip to Hamburg, taking their first win 3-0 over Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Meanwhile, Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough have worked hard to strengthen their position slightly. They won at home to Stoke, drew at Fratton Park and it’s fine to write off the loss to Chelsea. Four points accrued lifts Boro to 16th.

Over to Italy now, where Juventus still top the table. Ben Cee’s Inter are level with the Old Lady on 22 points, after having won three of their four games in October. Bizarrely, away trips to Mantova and Atalanta saw no problem and 2-0 wins, an away trip to Udinese saw few problems and a 2-1 win but a home tie against Mikey Twigge’s Palermo saw many problems and a 1-1 draw. After the far-from-exciting 0-0 draw in Manchester last month, Cee improved his team’s Champions League performance by beating Hapoel Tel-Aviv 6-0 and HSV 3-1. Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio follow Inter in 3rd place in Serie A, having achieved good wins against Cagliari, Fiorentina and Brescia this month, all by two-goal winning margins, but losing quite magnificently away to Lord Weeman’s Napoli. Napoli, in fourth place, won that game 4-1, yet that was by far their best result of the month. Livorno were narrowly beaten 1-0, and a 4-4 draw came against Sampdoria, but a trip to Lecce saw Super Lampard’s team win 1-0. After having beaten Beskitas 3-1 last month, Napoli did the same this month against Celtic, and only just fell 0-1 at home to Real Madrid. Lampard’s Lecce, by the way, got no wins other than that Napoli one, attaining two draws and a loss.

Bryan McGuinness’s European form seems to be quite inconsistent at the moment. A home tie against Juventus, even though the team are good, should not have resulted in a 2-0 win for the visitors. Fortunately, Everton won their second away match of the group stage, by the same margin as they first in Bucharest, beating Lillestrøm 3-0. To be honest, neither Lillestrøm nor Rapid are going to come anywhere near progressing, but one would have thought that the Toffees would have been able to put up more of a fight against the Italian leaders.

Now we travel to the Iberian land of Spain, where Atlético Madrid have floundered slightly, allowing the Spanish giants to take the top two spots. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid sit top, having beaten all their opponents this month. Mallorca 4-0, Murcia 3-0, Villarreal 2-0 and Getafe 2-1. The first two were at home, the second two away. They did of course win in Naples, but drew against Besiktas in Turkey in their Champions League group. An away tie for the Spanish Cup 4th Round First Leg saw Zamora beaten 1-0. Come on Bobby! Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona, two points behind Madrid, won absolutely all their games this month, thrashing both Elche and Villarreal 4-0 away, beating Murcia 2-0 at home, beating Marseille 6-2 away and Udinese 1-0 away in the Champions League (Udinese won their other Champions League match this month, 5-0 over Austria Wien), and beating Universidad LP 3-0 away in the Spanish Cup. Great things appear in store for Madridstas’s team.

Now to conclude with some Champions League news. Most relevant managers should know how their team fared by now, save a few. Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina travelled to Old Trafford and came away with a 2-2 draw, and while United drew away to Zaragoza in the next fixture, Fiorentina thrashed Zürich 3-0. As a result, the Italians top the group on 7 points, two more than their English counterparts. Tom Smith’sArsenal beat Sporting CP 4-2 away and Spartak Moscow 4-0 at home to top Group H. In fact, they won all their matches this month, beating also West Ham 2-0 at home, Newcastle 1-0 away and Aston Villa 2-1 at home.

!!STOP PRESS!!I do not know how this did not come to my attention before, but Jeremy English is the manager of England. He lasted only 204 days at his original club, Liverpool (now managed by Cool Manager), but the FA obviously saw fit to hire the manager as Fabio Capello’s replacement, after the Italian’s retirement. Despite just those 204 days of managerial experience, English now heads the nation that bears his name. Since taking charge in July (after the Euros), English has drawn 1-1 in Scotland, beaten Wales 2-1 at home and beaten Estonia 2-0 at home, all in the World Cup Qualifying Group. They top the group, sharing 7 points with their Celtic neighbours. No, not those Celtic neighbours: Scotland are the second-placed team. The other Celtic neigbours are third, followed by Ukraine, Estonia then Andorra. There’s definitely hope of a home nation qualifying!

Manager of the UpdateThere were a number of good performances this month, but I shall stick to the status quo and make;

Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona

the winner of this award for the second month running. However, he was pushed to manage it. In England, Leo Dodge and Tom Smith had good months both in domestic football and European football, the former particulary. Ben Cee also did well but could have done a little better, and Lucas Volman had a good month too. An honourable mention goes to Ben Taylor for taking his Fiorentina side to a draw at Old Trafford.

Re: 60 to One

Re: 60 to One

Update 53Years: 4, Months: 53, Days: 1607

It has come to that time of year again, when our managers open the first little window on their Advent calendar and pray that they’ll still be in their job when they open the last. Christmas is coming, which means that families will be needing presents and food, but first let us take a look at how November went for our 17 managers.

In Italy, there were quite a few good months to be had. Juventus’ reign at the top of the table had to come to an end, and it did, with the team dropping seven points this month. Ben Cee’s Inter saw the opportunity and swooped for the pole position. His team beat Reggina, Lecce and Lazio with nice and convincing margins, but actually lost away to Livorno. However, their three points dropped was fewer than Juventus’, so they could move up to take the leadership place. Cardio Vascular’s Genoa are in 4th after having won three of their four games this month with a draw in the fourth. They really had to fight for their ten points, with two 3-2 wins in the mix and no more than a one goal winning margin, but they did eventually achieve them and have reaped the rewards. Lord Weeman’s Napoli sit in the cold in 5th place, after having lost 0-2 to A.C. Milan this month. They did win two of their games, including a 3-0 away thrashing of Cagliari, but dropped two points in their fourth. They share 24 points with Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio, who won once, drew twice and lost once this month. Following those two on 23 points are Mikey Twigge’s Palermo who did well, winning thrice but losing once.

Another two of our teams left the 2012-13 Carling Cup in the Fourth Round, as Tom Smith’s Arsenal fell 0-1 at Anfield after extra time, and Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough fell 1-2 at Upton Park after extra time. Tottenham thumped Reading 5-0 to set up a tie with Aston Villa, while Everton won 1-0 at the Stadium of Light to win the right to face Boro’s conquerors West Ham. Liverpool face Chelsea and Manchester United face Wigan elsewhere in the Quarter Finals. But it’s not all doom and gloom for the Gunners despite their Liverpool loss. Their Portuguese manager has brought them back into contention after a poor start to the season. Three wins and a draw this month take them up to fifth where the dream of Champions League football next season can be accomplished with a little hard work. Liam Ferguson’s Man City currently rule the roost, after three wins and a draw this month. Leeds were beaten 4-0 at home and Stoke 3-0 at home. But Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough are in deep trouble again, sitting in 18th place. Losses to Birmingham, Arsenal and Liverpool, despite a points picked up at home to Man United, make the Canadian manager Very Insecure. With a few easier ties next month, however, he can hope for an improvement in his fortunes very soon.

In the Champions League, none of our sides have been locked out of qualifying for the next stage. In fact, many have already qualified and there are some who have yet to do so but are sitting in the qualification places. Instead of dealing with who has secured their Round of 16 place, I’ll just deal with some of the biggest results of the month. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid welcomed Napoli to the Bernabéu but struggled to a 1-1 draw with the Italians. Liam Ferguson’s Man City travelled to Israel to beat Hapoel Tel-Aviv 4-0, while Udinese travelled to Austria to beat Austria Wien 4-1, with their groupmates Barcelona matching that scoreline at home to Marseille. Ben Cee’s Inter and Ferguson’s Man City contested an epic 3-3 draw at the San Siro, while Arsenal travelled to Serbia to thrash Partizan Belgrade 6-0. Manchester United bettered that the following day in their home match against Zürich, while their groupmates Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina could only impotently draw at Zaragoza. Taylor is in a world of danger: bad league results have seen his team slip to 13th and his security slip to Very Insecure. Fortunately, he has qualified from his group alongside the Red Devils. Meanwhile, Tottenham travelled to Greece to beat Aris Thessalonika 4-0.

In Spain, there was an incredible sacking of an extremely talented manager. Moronic Valladolid chairman Carlos Suárez relieved brilliant genius Fréderico Canvey from his managerial role after 285 days in charge. Looking to revitalise his career after his dismissal from Stoke, the Spaniard only succeeded in making a tenure just 60% as long as his first one. Suárez chose Juan Ramón López Caro as Canvey’s replacement who, if you were in El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!, you will remember is one of Vicente del Bosque’s advisors. Another manager hired this month was Neilio, who was taken on by Alavés to avenge his rather short tenure at Almería. But back into La Liga, where Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid top the table. They are four points clear of Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona, on 37 points. This month, Real won all their games but for an away trip to Real Sociedad, which ended 0-0. Still, they picked up 13 points in the month which, unless you’re superstitious, is a good tally in anyone’s books. Barcelona, on the other hand, picked up 11, dropping four points with draws away to Atlético Madrid and Getafe. They did beat Sevilla 5-0 at home, which is strange considering that Sevilla manager Maz Armley is Very Secure. Valencia join Barcelona on 33 points, but despite an early lead by the team from the capital, things are far from decided and there will surely be a season-long tug of war between the two teams. In the Spanish Cup, Volman’s team compounded their earlier 1-0 victory over Zamora with a 2-0 home one, and Barcelona did the same, beating Universidad LP 4-0 after their earlier 3-0 away win. They face Racing and Espanyol respectively in the next round.

Bryan McGuinness’s Everton confirmed their passage into the next round of the Europa League alongside their groupmates Juventus. They only played the one game this month, welcoming Rapid Bucharest and dismissing the Romanians with a tight 1-0 victory. The two matches next month allow the Toffees to mount the three point deficit they have against Juventus, but given that they play the table-toppers in Italy, it doesn’t look likely to happen. Domestically, Everton are 6th in the Premier League after beating Sunderland and West Brom this month, but drawing 1-1 with both Portsmouth and Stoke. McGuinness is Stable which looks a fair assessment from my point of view.

So, two managers who are Very Insecure? It looks like next month could bring us some holiday bloodshed, if the managers’ respective chairmen decide they have had enough of Ben Taylor or Ricky Nakano. They have made it this far, but somebody has to get fired next. Will it be one of them?

Manager of the UpdateIt is a tough choice this month as no one was that good and the two best were pretty similar.

Liam Ferguson, Man City

gets the award for topping the Premier League with a very good month, although Lucas Volman could also have perceivably won the award. Ferguson also went to Israel to win 4-0. Tom Smith, Bryan McGuinness, Cardio Vascular and Ben Cee also all did pretty well, but didn’t do well enough to match the eventual winner.

Re: 60 to One

Re: 60 to One

Update 54Years: 4, Months: 54, Days: 1638

It’s 2013, and the world is now safe from apocalyptic disaster…for now. The Mayans were wrong, and understandably: if they couldn’t do anything about their own extinction from European diseases, they can’t be very good fortune tellers. However, what even I could have predicted was that one of our number would have been fired in the month of December, and that turned out to be true. With this dismissal coming an amazing 209 days after the last one (just six days short of our record for time between two consecutive dismissals), it has certainly livened things up a bit, but I am sure that two readers will be fearing that it is them down at the end of the barrel of the gun.

With the lowest chance of a sacking occurring in the country, you can guarantee that it is not a Spanish-based manager that was fired, so that is where we shall start. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid have carved a phenomenal 11-point lead over nearest challengers Barcelona at the top of La Liga. Zaragoza, Tenerife and Sporting were beaten 2-0, and Valencia were beaten 1-0. In the midst of all this, the Italian’s team travelled to Japan to contest the Club World Championship. The last three winners were Barcelona, so this offered the perfect opportunity to continue the game of one-upmanship between the two Spanish titans. Madrid entered the competition against Shanghai Shenhua, whom they beat 6-0. Even New York Red Bulls could offer no resistance as the Americans were conquered 0-4. In addition to those two competitions, the team from the Spanish capital won 1-0 in their final Champions League Group Stage match against Besiktas. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona, on the other hand, had a turbulent month. They did beat Hércules 3-0 and Udinese 2-1 in the Champions League, but two draws alongside a loss to Real Sociedad meant that the team couldn’t help but watch as Real Madrid soared on ahead of them at the top.

In Italy, Ben Cee’s Inter still lead the way, but all of our sides are doing well. Inter won twice and drew twice to retain their grip on the top of the Serie A table, while beating Hapoel Tel Aviv 5-0 in Israel. Lord Weeman’s Napoli improved their position to fourth with three wins and a loss, while beating Celtic 3-0 at home. More modestly, Super Lampard’s Lecce have ascended to 13th splitting their four games of the month equally with wins and losses. James Salter’s Reggina hover just above them, having done exactly the same. The six points picked up by Reggina and Lecce give them 22 and 20 respectively.

In England, Middlesbrough have pulled themselves out of the relegation mire once again but now Tim Aubel’s Fulham are in it! We’ll deal with Middlesbrough first, who used a tried and tested method to escape the drop: sacking their manager. After 1614 days of service to the Teeside club, Canadian manager Ricky Nakano saw his contract terminated following a poor start to this season. Losses to West Ham and Newcastle started the month, and so the board felt they had no choice. New manager Arnold J. Rimmer has improved the club’s fortunes dramatically, taking them up to 14th. He has already cut his managerial teeth at Bolton, who are currently controlled by dafuge. The one-named bandit will be proud to hear that his tenure at Bolton is now just two days short of the 236 he managed at Torino, his first and his longest. And, even better, the Wanderers are now second in the Championship with an eye on promotion. Rimmer wasn’t the only one of our sacked managers to find work this month, with Martin Bojangles taking Mark Cator’s old place at Aston Villa. But back to the managers who are still in the running for the 60 to One crown, with Tim Aubel at Fulham. His team have sunk to 19th following five straight losses in December. This ate into Aubel’s leeway with the board, dropping him from Secure to Stable. But that should be the least of his concerns, seeing as that could get a whole lot lower next month. Speaking of next month, the FA Cup 3rd Round draw has been made, and holders Arsenal will host Birmingham at the Emirates. Tottenham travel to Old Trafford in a nightmare tie, while Everton host Preston. Fulham will travel to West Ham for a crucial match, while two of our teams (or one of our teams and one very recently retired team) have easy home ties against non-league opposition. Man City host Exeter and, is if to rub salt in the wounds of Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough host Bishop’s Stortford.

The Champions League Group Stages have concluded, with the Round of 16 set to start in February. All of our managers made it safely into the next round, with there being plenty of big wins this month. Zaragoza beat Zürich 6-1 in Switzerland, Benfica welcomed Aris Thessalonika, whom they beat 5-0, Inter of course travelled to Israel to win 5-0, and Tom Smith’s Arsenal annihilated Sporting CP 6-0. Some interesting ties are thrown up by the next round: Tyler Burrows’s Udinese face Arsenal, while Napoli and Tottenham shall collide. Fiorentina face Benfica, Barcelona face Man United, Man City face Bayern Munich while Inter and Real Madrid both have Portuguese opponents. In the Europa League, after having having dispatched their last two opponents 2-0 and 3-0 (Juventus away and Lillestrøm home respectively), Bryan McGuinness’s Everton will face A.C. Milan in the next round. Excuse my pessimism, but I believe I will very soon be able to stop giving reports on this competition for the rest of the season.

Now we travel back to Italy, for a report on the Italian Cup. Lord Weeman’s Napoli progressed from the 1st Round with a 4-0 demolition of Lecce. Mikey Twigge’s Palermo did just as well, beating Mantova 3-0. Tyler Burrows’s Udinese just squeaked past Lazio while Inter beat Reggina. Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina lost 1-2 at home to Sampdoria, but the Englishman has done a lot to secure his position after last month’s doubt. Cagliari, Mantova and even Napoli were beaten this month, without a single defeat in the league, and even English titans Manchester United were beaten 2-1 when they came to the Artemio Franchi in the Champions League.

Both our teams progressed from the Carling Cup Quarter Finals. Everton held off a West Ham battle to win 1-0, while Leo Dodge’s Tottenham achieved a very successful 4-1 victory over Aston Villa. Dodge’s team had a number of good results this month but also a number of bad ones. West Ham, Blackburn and Newcastle were beaten, as were Brøndby, but Man United and Arnold J. Rimmer’s Middlesbrough managed to beat the London team. Tottenham and Everton will now go head to head in the Round of 4, with Man United and Liverpool contesting the other Semi Final.

One manager has piloted himself away from danger, another has fallen through the threshold and lost his job. A third is now teetering on the brink: stable for now, Tim Aubel will have to watch what he does if he wants to continue as Fulham manager. The transfer window is about to open, so if he wants to make any moves they will be assessed rigorously come the end of the season…or earlier. Other managers will be looking to make purchases as the world enters the exciting new year of 2013.

Manager of the UpdateJust a little thought can allocate this award.

Lucas Volman, Real Madrid

wins this month’s award for piloting his team to a rip-roaring success domestically, continentally and intercontinentally. There were very few managers who came close to Volman’s level of prowess this month, with Ben Cee being the best manager of the rest. Leo Dodge had a good month as did Ben Taylor who recovered from a wobble, but Volman well and truly deserves this award, even if it be only because of an unfairly dominant Spanish league.

Re: 60 to One

No mention and still stable as we drop to 16 managers remaining...looking very good for Lazio, Jonte & Italy in general. If I am counting right 10 of the remaining 16 are from Italy, that means we have lost 10 while the others have lost 34...

Re: 60 to One

Re: 60 to One

Update 55Years: 4, Months: 55, Days: 1669

January has passed, and the managers have used the opportunity of the transfer window to strengthen their squads. No chairmen saw fit to strengthen their coaching staff with a new manager, so we beat on with 16 managers, boats against the current, borne forward ceaselessly into the future and the year 2013.

We’ll start with a January progress update on the English leagues. Tim Aubel’s Fulham have done little this month to avoid the drop, winning once, drawing once and losing once. However, Aubel’s combined spend of £21M shows that he is particularly keen to steer clear of next season’s Championship. Benoît Cheyrou joined from Aston Villa for £3.8M, Zé Castro from Spartak Moscow for £6.25M, Gary Glen from Hearts for £4.7M and Massamba Sambou from Monaco for £6.25M. Four transfers outwards raised £5.4M, including the £100k sale of Bobby Zamora to Peterborough. Liam Ferguson’s Man City are top of the table, having won all four of their league games this month, if only by a one-goal margin each time. These two sides face each other in the next game, at the Cottage. Tom Smith’s Arsenal, meanwhile, have climbed back into the top four with three solid wins and a draw. Stoke and Birmingham were beaten 3-0, Wigan were beaten 3-1 and Chelsea came to the Emirates to snatch a 1-1 draw. Tottenham are in 6th and Everton are in 9th.

In Italy, Ben Cee’s Inter are currently level with Juventus at the top of Serie A. However, the Singaporean’s team are 2nd on goal difference (the two teams drew 0-0 in their meeting). The month started well for Cee, thumping Cagliari 4-0 and beating Brescia 2-0, but two consecutive 2-2 draws followed, against Napoli and Fiorentina. They also needed penalties to progress past Mikey Twigge’s Palermo in the Coppa Italia Quarter Final: 2010 World Cup Golden Boot Winner Yannick Djaló scored the winning penalty. Palermo actually had a very good month, beatin Parma, Cagliari and Brescia, the latter two by four-goal margins. A draw with A.C. Milan and the cup eliminations were the only blips. Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio are in 5th, between Napoli and Palermo, and they won twice and drew twice this month, including thrashing Super Lampard’s Lecce 6-1. Cardio Vascular’s Genoa are 8th, winning once, drawing once and losing twice this month, while Tyler Burrows’s Udinese, who were hoping that this year would be the year they would claim the Scudetto title, are in 10th. They beat Cagliari 6-0 at the end of the month but lost every single other league game.

Three of the largest four transfers of the month involved Roma, and the largest did not involve any of our sides. Haowan Madridstas spent a bit of money to strengthen his Barcelona team, but nothing that should raise alarm bells or be seen as particularly exceptional. However, with quite a considerable Real Madrid lead to chase down in the league, some good players may be the necessary solution. Alberto Aquilani came to the Nou Camp for £18.75M from Roma, and Rafael van der Vaart came for £7.75M from Liverpool. Tom Smith’s Arsenal signed Moussa Sissoko from Portsmouth for £16M, and Ben Cee took Marseille’s André Ayew for £13.25M as well as Mallorca’s Gerard van Es for £5.25M. Unsurprisingly, Liam Ferguson also made a big deal, bringing Reimond Manco to the City of Manchester Stadium for £11.75M from PSV Eindhoven. Ferguson sold Felipe Caicedo to Aston Villa for £5.75M. Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio sold Henok Goitom to Fiorentina for £9M and Tyler Burrows’s Udinese strengthened their squad with the £7.5M signing of Carlos Vela from Racing and the £5.5M one of Paolo Sammarco from A.C. Milan. Everton’s prodigious midfielder Dan Gosling joined Leeds for £5.5M.

Despite their new signings, Barcelona have not managed to close any of the gap on Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid, but they have prevented it from growing any larger. Both teams won twice, drew once and lost once. Real Madrid thrashed both Racing 5-0 and Betis 7-0 while drawing with Málaga. Haowan Madridstas’s side beat Tenerife 4-1, drew with Racing and lost to Sporting. The two sides met at the Nou Camp, where Barcelona won an exciting match 2-1 with a Thierry Henry brace. Both teams also played in the Spanish Cup, where Real Madrid made the Quarter Finals beating Racing 1-0 on aggregate, and Barcelona by beating Espanyol 5-3 on aggregate. Real Madrid’s progress was halted in the Last Eight when cross-town rivals Atlético beat them on penalties after a 2-2 draw (2-0 in each leg), and Barcelona made the Final Four by beating Cadiz 5-2. Barcelona and Atlético meet to contest a final place.

The Spanish Cup wasn’t the only cup being played this month. I’ve already mentioned one result from the Italian Cup, but here are some more. Udinese welcomed Juventus to Friuli and beat the table-toppers 2-1. Sampdoria knocked out Napoli 1-0 after extra time, and A.C. Milan beat Roma 2-0. Sampdoria and Inter will meet, as will Udinese and A.C.. In the Carling Cup Semi Finals, Manchester United beat Cool Manager’sLiverpool 2-1 at home, before finishing them off 2-0 at Anfield. Tottenham and Everton drew 1-1 at White Hart Lane, with another 2-0 away victory sending Leo Dodge’s Spurs into their second final in two years. Two rounds of the FA Cup also took place. Tom Smith’s Arsenal smashed Birmingham 6-1, but Man City went one better against Exeter, annihilating their opposition 9-0. Tottenham went out to Manchester United, an ominous sign for March’s Wembley final, but Everton beat Preston 3-0 to go through. Tim Aubel’s Fulham only just made Round 4 by beating West Ham 3-2 in a replay after a 1-1 draw. But they weren’t even close to Round 5 when Arsenal beat them 6-0 at the Emirates. Liam Ferguson’s Manchester City squeaked past Southend 1-0, while Everton host Southampton in a replay for the Fifth Round place. Arsenal will play Bristol City, Man City will play Newcastle and Southampton or Everton will play Portsmouth.

So there’s plenty of action still to come. While none of our managers are currently in danger, there’s every chance that that danger could come as the end of the season approaches. In the meantime, though, there’s plenty of delectable cup and league action for readers to sink their teeth into.

Manager of the UpdateI’m torn between two people but I will give;

Tom Smith, Arsenal

the award this month following his two very big cup wins: 6-1 and 6-0. As well as this, he won three league games very comfortable and was matched only once. Liam Ferguson was the other contender, he also made it through both FA Cup rounds with just the one immense victory, 9-0 over Exeter, but he reclaimed first place in the Premier League without dropping a point. However, while narrow wins are sometimes important, they are not too inspirational and they have slipped the award in Smith’s favour. Mikey Twigge and Jonte Rhodes also get a mention but both were some way off our winner and runner-up.

Re: 60 to One

Being ebullient following a Fulham conquest over Juventus, canvey!! gave his 60 to One readers one free update.
Update 56Years: 4, Months: 56, Days: 1697

Yet another month has passed in the 60 to One world, with our 16 managers beavering away at their work. We’ll start with an overview of the European scene, as the prestigious European competitions restarted this month.

First, the Champions League, where each of the 16 teams still involved played their First Knockout Round First Leg. Benfica hold a formidable 3-0 lead over Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina, which the Italians are unlikely to overcome even in the return leg. José Mourinho’s Manchester United hold a more tentative lead: 3-2 over Barcelona with every chance that the Spanish giants might knock out the English giants in the next game. Lord Weeman’s Napoli hold a 2-1 lead over Tottenham but another English team, Arsenal, find themselves 3-2 up after winning by that scoreline at Udinese. Man City look likely to fall once again, with Bayern Munich beating them 1-0 in England, and Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid are also 0-1 down after their trip to Porto. Sporting CP and Inter drew 0-0 in Portugal. In the Europa League, Bryan McGuinness’s Everton achieved a magnificent 3-1 win over A.C. Milan at Goodison Park, compounding that with a 1-1 draw in Italy. Next, they face an arguably easier opponent in the form of Marseille.

In Italy, Juventus have finally dropped off the pace and tombstoned to 4th place, leaving the way open for Ben Cee’s Inter to stake a claim on the top spot. Inter did exactly that, winning four out of four games in a solid month worthy of a title winner. Lord Weeman’s Napoli are in second after they won three of their four games, drawing the month opener. They played four fellow managers of ours this month, drawing against Mikey Twigge and Palermo, who are in 5th, beating Lecce 3-0 and Reggina 4-0. Aside from that draw, Twigge’s team drew again, making two 0-0 away draws for the month, but they beat Fiorentina 2-0 at home and Roma 1-0 away. Tyler Burrows’s Udinese are not doing very well in any attempts to push themselves up the table. They were the third team that Napoli beat, and they picked up five points from their other three games this month, only just beating Brescia in the game they won. Moving down the table, there is some danger for Super Lampard and Lecce, but not too much. They are in 16th place but are actually nine points ahead of the relegation zone. They lost three of their four games this month but won 2-1 at Cagliari.

In an interesting outcome, Haowan Madridstas’s attempts to chase down the gargantuan lead of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga have failed so much that his Barcelona team have dropped to third. Valencia have overtaken Madridstas’s team despite him dropping just the two points this month. Both Betis and Elche were beaten 3-1 but a 2-2 away draw to Málaga and the fact that one of their games looks to have been postponed seems to be Barça’s undoing. The team also started their Spanish Cup Semi Final tie strongly, drawing 1-1 at Atlético Madrid. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid also dropped two points, but gained a three-point advantage on Barcelona seeing as they played an extra game. Unlike their rivals, Real beat Elche 4-0, and they also won against Villarreal and Murcia. They drew away to Athletic but still hold a 10 points lead over Valencia.

Good news for Fulham fans, including me, as Tim Aubel has managed to break the club out of the bottom three. It was a brilliant month with just a solitary loss from four games. The month started in style with a 2-0 win over leaders Man City at Craven Cottage. Sunderland were then beaten in an 8-goal thriller by the narrowest margin possible from that many goals. A trip to White Hart Lane saw a valiant effort fail to be rewarded after Leo Dodge’s Tottenham won 3-2, but a trip to the Hawthorns saw such a valiant effort get its just desserts as the Cottagers won 1-0. A flash of inspiration has pulled the London team up to 15th. Despite their loss, Man City are still top, after beating Wigan 3-1 and Everton 3-0. They also drew 0-0 at the Stadium of Light. Tom Smith’s Arsenal follow in 2nd, having not lost this month. The Gunners beat Man United, West Ham and Newcastle but drew in a home tie with Liverpool. Manchester United follow them in 3rd, and then come Dodge’s team. His Fulham win was one of five this month, with a 4-0 victory over West Brom being the biggest one. Bryan McGuinness’s Everton are in 10th, and they played three games this month, losing to Tottenham and Man City but drawing with Wigan.

The FA Cup played its Fifth Round this month, but before that was possible, Everton had to win their Fourth Round Replay. They beat Southampton 2-0 to set up a tie with Portsmouth, whom they beat 3-1. Man City also find themselves in the Last Eight after beating Newcastle 1-0, and Arsenal beat Bristol City 2-0 to secure their place in the next round. Sunderland meet Everton and Arsenal meet Arnold J. Rimmer’s Middlesbrough, but all eyes will be on Old Trafford, where Man United will host Man City, with a few on Anfield, where Liverpool will host Chelsea. It’s all part of next month’s delectable line-up, which is not to be missed!

Manager of the UpdateThere are five excellent candidates for this award. As a result, I have looked at past history to even out the managers who have won the award. This month’s goes to;

Tim Aubel, Fulham

after the American lifted his team out of the relegation zone with some good wins. None of the managers managed a perfect month, so I gave the award to Aubel for doing so well after just having been beaten 0-6 last month in the FA Cup. It is very hard to choose, but Leo Dodge, who won every game save for that in the Champions League, was probably second in line. Tom Smith, Lord Weeman and Ben Cee also won all but one of their games, drawing their final game. It was such a hard choice to make, but based on the fact that all of these managers have won the award, the scales tip just into Aubel’s favour.

Re: 60 to One

Update 57Years: 4, Months: 57, Days: 1728

What an exciting month! Not one but two managers have bowed out of the competition, leaving us with just 14! We’ll move onto the fascinating circumstances of their exits in due course, but for the meantime let us start in England, where the month kicked off with the Carling Cup final.

89,991 people travelled to London to virtually fill the seats of Wembley for the meeting between José Mourinho’s Manchester United and Leo Dodge’s Tottenham. The match was going well, with both sides giving good performances, but United hadn’t managed to break the deadlock before 34 minutes, when their chances of doing so took a knock with an injury to Wayne Rooney caused by a collision with Vedran Corluka. The sides went into the break level, with United carved out a 1-0 lead 10 minutes after the restart with Brazilian attacking midfielder Anderson scoring in a strong Red Devils move. Spurs, not for the lack of trying, weren’t able to wrestle back advantage and lost the tie by the narrowest of margins.

In Spain, Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona gained four points on leaders Real Madrid, but they played two more games. Both teams lost one and won three, with Barça winning one and drawing one of their extra two. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid clambered through the month with some tenuous wins, 1-0 over both Sevilla and Espanyol and 2-0 over Getafe, losing 0-1 to Mallorca. Barcelona’s performance, initially at least, was much stronger, as they beat Villarreal 5-0, Murcia 4-0 and then Getafe 4-0. Results then dried up, with a 0-0 away draw with Athletic and a 0-1 away loss to Mallorca, before three points were gained in a crucial home tie with Atlético Madrid. They had beaten Atlético 5-2 earlier in the month to win their Spanish Cup Semi Final 6-3 on aggregate, setting up a final with Valencia. In truth, Jellybean Man is Spain’s manager of the update after Mallorca got those two wins over the Big Two, as well as beating Elche and drawing with Sporting.

Following a 0-0 draw in Portugal, Ben Cee’s Inter appeared to be well up for the return leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie with Sporting CP, a leg which they won 5-0. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid also knocked out a Portuguese team by overcoming Porto’s initial 1-0 advantage with a 3-0 victory in Spain. Following a 3-2 win in Italy, Tom Smith’s Arsenal dumped Udinese out of the competition with a 5-0 win at the Emirates, while Barcelona also won 5-0 to send Man United home 7-3. Fiorentina did almost as well, Ben Taylor’s team winning 4-0, overcoming Benfica’s initial 3-0 advantage. Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich and Tottenham are also in the Quarter Final, after beating Ajax, Man City and Napoli respectively. The most interesting tie is without doubt a North London derby, although that is with English bias seeing as Real Madrid will play Atlético Madrid. Barcelona play Fiorentina and Inter play Bayern Munich.

Ben Cee’s team, by the way, have carved out an impressive seven-point lead at the top of Serie A. That occurred without a particularly good month. They had to struggle to beat Mantova 4-3, and then lost to Palermo and Udinese. James Salter’s Reggina were beaten 3-1 away and some stability returned with a 2-0 victory over Livorno. In amongst this, a 0-0 draw at Sampdoria means there is less pressure on the team in the return leg of their Italian Cup Semi Final, although they aspired to being as good as their rivals A.C. Milan, who won their first leg 3-0 at Udinese. Napoli are in second with Mikey Twigge’s Palermo doing a good job in 5th place. They drew four of their five games this month, which represents a considerable number of points dropped. Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio, who follow in 6th, drew a couple of games, two of their four, but they beat Cagliari 6-0, ending the month, however, with a 1-2 defeat to Cardio Vascular’s 8th-placed Genoa.

In England, there are three success stories, as three clubs, all of which are managed by our managers, share 66 points and are leading the way for the rest of the teams. But it isn’t them to whom we’ll turn our attention, not yet at least. It is the stories which don’t hold any success that we are more interested in. It all started on March 3rd, when Roma chairman Rosella Sensi decided that he’d had enough of Luciano Spalletti’s poor performance as a manager. bermybhoy was one of the managers tipped to get the job, but it wasn’t him who got it. Instead, Sensi turned to Everton, where he found a talented manager in Bryan McGuinness. He had started the month by beating Sunderland 1-0 but would no longer manage the Merseyside club. Roberto Mancini, freshly hired from Portsmouth, knocked Everton out of the Europa League but got them to the FA Cup Semi Final after a replay with that very same Sunderland team. Of course, that meant that Portsmouth needed a new manager. Perhaps worried that he would not be able to keep up results at Fulham, Tim Aubel jumped ship to Fratton Park. He had drawn with Leeds and beaten Mancini’s Everton but found a new home on the South Coast. Finally, Fulham ended the chain with the wise appointment of Roy Hodgson. McGuinness, by the way, won all but one of his six Roma games, including knocking Rangers out of the Europa League 8-1, and Aubel started his new job by welcoming his former club, Fulham, to Fratton Park, a team he beat 1-0. He then won 1-0 at Manchester City before drawing 4-4 in Sunderland.

Now onto the success stories. I mentioned Everton’s cup progress against Sunderland. Tom Smith’s Arsenal are also in the Semi Final following their 4-0 demolition of Arnold J. Rimmer’s Middlesbrough. Liverpool beat Chelsea 1-0 while two 0-0 draws led to Manchester United needing penalties to beat Manchester City in the replay at Eastlands. Liverpool face Arsenal and Everton face Man United in the Final Four. Turning our eyes back to the league, Liam Ferguson’s Man City are technically top, on goal difference. They beat West Brom 6-0 and Birmingham 4-0 but lost 0-1 at home to Tim Aubel’s Portsmouth, as already mentioned. Their two cup exits were also mentioned. Smith’s Arsenal follow, with a goal difference seven goals worse than City’s. They beat Blackburn 1-0, Middlesbrough 3-0 and Roy Hodgson’s Fulham 5-3 this month, and progressed in both cups with two 4-0 victories. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham, third, have a goal difference four goals worse than Arsenal’s, and this month won three of four games, beating Chelsea but drawing with Portsmouth (Mancini’s). They progressed in the Champions League but lost in the Carling Cup final.

What an exciting month! I’ve been blown off my feet! Two managers have left the competition, there have been some huge wins in league, cup and European football, and there is a tight deadlock between our three remaining English-based managers at the top of the Premier League, as well as some less tight ones between two of our managers at the top in both Spain and Italy. The managers have now turned onto the home straight, both in this season and perhaps in 60 to One overall. While all the managers are currently Stable, that doesn’t mean elimination isn’t possible, seeing as managers do sometimes want a change of scenery.

Manager of the UpdateI’m going to choose;

Tom Smith, Arsenal

as the best of our tripod of remaining English managers this month. There were some poor performances across both Spain and Italy this month but some true class was shown at the top of the Premier League. Leo Dodge was also in contention, although he lost the Carling Cup final, as was Liam Ferguson despite being knocked out of the FA Cup and the Champions League. Smith’s progress in both these competitions as well as a month without dropped points wins him the award, although Dodge will want to get revenge in next month’s Champions League tie.

Re: 60 to One

Update 58Years: 4, Months: 58, Days: 1758

So onwards we go, with our newly depleted stock of 14 managers, the majority of which are in Italy. The five-year barrier is now in sight for our managers, who will be striving towards it in the hope that they do not get sacked, and in the hope that they do not get tempted towards other clubs, as was the fate of our last two managers to exit, Tim Aubel and Bryan McGuinness.

We will start in Italy, where, as is the case in all three of our leagues, the bottom placed team has already had their relegation confirmed. Cagliari will be joining Serie B next season, and Super Lampard’s Lecce will now be very confident of not joining them. The team are 12 points clear of 18th-placed Mantova with just four games to play. This month, Lampard couldn’t win any of his matches, drawing two and losing two. Positioned just above Lecce are James Salter’s Reggina. They also drew twice and lost twice, and these two teams play each other in the next game. Given that one of his next four games is against relegated Cagliari and another is against 19th-placed Brescia, we can state with much confidence that Ben Cee’s Inter have won the Scudetto title. April saw them win three out of four league games, including a 5-1 victory over Lazio and a 3-0 one over Juventus, as well as progress in the Champions League. Only the most foolish of pundits would give Lord Weeman’s Napoli a chance of catching up, with Weeman’s team 11 points behind, and having just suffered two 1-2 defeats to low-placed teams, including Mantova. A.C. Milan are in third, and play their rivals Inter in the next game which, if the Singaporean’s team win, will be the title decider.

Over to England now, a country suffering from just having lost 40% of its managers. However, if current form is maintained, Champions League football looks likely for all of our managers. Tom Smith’s Arsenal, much to the delight of their fans, have ascended to top spot for the first time in the season, beating their title rivals Man City 3-1 at the Emirates this month. They also picked up seven points in their other three games. That was Liam Ferguson’s team’s only loss, although they did draw a further two, but the damage was already done by the Portuguese manager Smith. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham are in 4th and two points clear of 5th-placed Chelsea, with three games to play. Both have easy schedules in May, with Tottenham slightly better off with two home games to Chelsea’s one. This month was a tough one, but was one survived as Dodge took his team to Old Trafford to claim a 0-0 draw, to the Emirates to claim a 1-1 draw, welcomed Liverpool to snatch a 1-0 win and actually fell down in the easiest tie, away to Scott Tysoe’s West Ham, 0-1. In the FA Cup, Man United knocked out Everton 4-1 and Cool Manager’s Liverpool knocked out Arsenal 2-1. In the Championship, dafuge’s Bolton have secured promotion, and now aim to upset Jim Magilton’s Hull, who are three points ahead of them (on 103) in 1st. There is just the one game to do so and four goals in goal difference need to be made up. They both face teams in the bottom six, but Bolton will be away.

Of course the Champions League took place this month. We could start with the North London derby, or we could start with the Madrid derby, but instead we’ll talk about Barcelona playing Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina. The first leg in Catalonia ended 2-1 to the home team, but that score was reversed back in Italy, leaving it up to penalties to send through Barcelona, following Fiorentina missing their first two. Ben Cee’s Inter faced Bayern Munich, and you already knew they got through. A 2-1 home win and a 2-3 away loss meant the Italians progressed on away goals. The first leg of the Madrid derby ended 1-1 with Real playing hosts. One might think that gave Josep Guardiola’s Atlético the chance to sneak it at home, but a 2-2 draw sent Lucas Volman’s side through. Finally, English football fans, neutrals and Spurs fans at the very least, went crazy following the team’s 2-1 win at the Emirates in the first leg of the Champions League tie between them and Tom Smith’s Arsenal. But it was Arsenal fans who were laughing following their teams 2-0 win over Leo Dodge’s at White Hart Lane. Jérémy Toulalan’s goal in the 89th minute was either crushing or a piece of pure gold, depending on which way you look at it. Tottenham had a man sent off in each leg, so perhaps didn’t deserve to make the Last Four. Arsenal now hold a 2-0 lead over Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona following the home leg and an Emmanuel Adebayor brace, whereas Inter and Real Madrid meet today, May 1st. In the Europa League, Marseille play Besiktas and Liverpool play Roma.

In Spain, Haowan Madridstas’s Catalan Barcelona team have a limited window off opportunity to catch up La Liga leaders, Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid. This month, Madrid won three of their four games, drawing the last away to Zaragoza, and Barcelona did exactly the same. Neither side gave particularly inspring performances. Barcelona have three games with which to chase down the seven-point gap, yet Volman’s side have four games left to play.

Back to Italy momentarily, where it has been a marvellous month for Tyler Burrows’s Udinese, giving the team the opportunity to rise through the ranks. The team moved from ninth to seventh winning all four of their games, with 3-0 wins over both Reggina and Livorno. Sadly for them, they travelled to face A.C. Milan in the Coppa Italia Semi Final second leg, and lost 0-3 to match the first leg score. Ben Cee’s Inter also progressed by beating Sampdoria 2-0. That makes it an all-Milan final.

So the month was a mixture of calm and excitement. The managers are in it for the long stretch, or they hope so at least. There may not be any sackings next month, but there will be trophies, so that’s certainly something to look forward to.

Manager of the UpdateThis isn’t that easy to give. I have chosen;

Ben Cee, Inter

to get this award, although it wasn’t a clear cut choice. Tyler Burrows really pushed the Singaporean, as did Tom Smith, but Cee’s performances seemed to have that sharpness that the others seemed to lack.

Re: 60 to One

Writer’s Notes: Sorry if this update seems a bit disjointed – time constraints meant I had to write it in three sessions.

Update 59Years: 4, Months: 59, Days: 1789

Another season comes to a fiery end. It stated with that boiling month last summer, and ends in an equally intense inferno, even if this one is more metaphorical.

We’ll start in Spain, where the league winners have been very predictable from very early on. Sure enough, Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid claimed the La Liga title, eventually finishing 10 points clear of Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona. In the month of May, Madrid won two, drew one and lost one of their four games. Barcelona won one, drew one and lost one of their three. They also contested the Spanish Cup in the Final stage of the competition, coming up against Valencia.

Road to the Final – Copa del ReyBarcelona started their Copa del Rey adventure in the Fourth Round with an away trip to Universidad LP. They promptly thrashed the home team 3-0 and went one better in the return leg for an aggregate score of 7-0. Their Fifth Round tie was much more difficult, drawing away to Espanyol 2-2 but ratcheting up the pressure at home to win 3-1. Against Cádiz, they won narrowly away, 3-2, and compounded that with a 2-0 home victory to send them into the Semi Final, where they would meet Atlético Madrid, a team they would eliminate 6-3 despite a 1-1 draw in the capital. Barcelona’s opponents Valencia played Salamanca in the Fourth Round, winning 2-0 away and progressing despite a 1-2 home defeat. They then faced Elche and won both legs by a one-goal margin for a 3-1 progression to meet Sevilla. Valencia won 4-2 at home and 1-0 away to set up a Semi Final with Getafe, whom they beat 2-1 away. The home leg would surely be plain sailing…it wasn’t – Getafe won 1-0, but Valencia made the final on away goals.

75320 fans packed the Santiago Bernabéu, but any latecomers were punished when David Villa gave the underdogs the lead in the 1st minute. Haowan Madridstas’s team had to wait to take the game under control but there wasn’t a huge wait for their equaliser. Benedikt Höwedes levelled the match 18 minutes into it, and it stayed at 1-1 until half time. Valencia made a surge in the second half but were soon punished by a Lionel Messi goal just short of the hour mark. But the excitement was not to stop there: Kaká brought it back to two goals apiece with just four minutes of normal time to play. Seven minutes later, in the 90+3rd minute, Rodrigo Palacio won the title for Barcelona.

In Italy, Ben Cee didn’t fail to capitalise on his lead at the top of Serie A, closing it out with 13 points on both Lord Weeman’s Napoli and Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio, for now. The Italian league has still one game to play, with the finishing order among second, third and fourth and the Europa League spot still to play for. Inter drew with A.C. this month but beat both Parma and Cagliari. Weeman’s Napoli drew against Fiorentina and Roma but beat Genoa, while Rhodes’s Lazio won all three games by small margins. Mikey Twigge’s Palermo are 5th, with one of each result this month, and Tyler Burrows’s Udinese are 7th and in the same situation. Solidly mid-table, Cardio Vascular’s Genoa are 10th, winning once and losing twice this month, while James Salter’s Reggina lost all three games, and are currently 15th with an Insecure manager. Italy also saw it’s cup final this month…

Road to the Final – Coppa ItaliaBen Cee’s Inter started by welcoming Reggina in the Italian Cup 1st Round. A narrow 2-1 win was all they could get, but it would do for Cee, whose team then went on to face Palermo away – a 0-0 deadlock was broken by Inter’s penalty win. They drew 0-0 again in the next match, away to Sampdoria, but won that Semi Final at home in the return leg with a 2-0 victory. Their opponents, fierce rivals A.C. Milan, got the luck of two home draws in the 1st and 2nd Rounds. Atalanta were beaten 3-1 and then Roma 2-0. Marco van Basten’s team then won 3-0 at Udinese and doubled it up with a 3-0 home win to carry them into the final.

81153 fans crowded the Olimpico in Italy’s capital city to watch a fierce battle between these two rival teams. A.C. just seemed to have the edge, but nothing manifested itself for them…or for Ben Cee’s team either. Half time came and went, full time came and went, and not a goal had been scored. Ten minutes into extra time Inter went down to ten men with Sulley Muntari’s dismissal, and it was in the match’s 103rd minute that a goal was scored, and it was a crushing blow for Inter: Rafael Sóbis put the ball into his own net to put Cee and the team behind. But Sóbis went from villain to hero following the resumption of action in extra time: he levelled the match. It went to penalties, with both teams scoring their first two. Sóbis became villain once again, missing his spot kick for Inter, but A.C. Milan couldn’t capitalise, squandering their chance. Inter then took the lead and were pegged back, with Daniel Carriço missing their final penalty. Vicente scored to give A.C. Milan the Italian Cup. Inter had the league anyway!

Now we go over to England, starting from the bottom upwards. dafuge's Bolton couldn’t win the Championship, coming second to Hull, but they made it up to the Premier League anyway, where they will also be joined by Sheffield Wednesday. Arnold J. Rimmer’s Middlesbrough finished 14th in the Premier League, while Robert Boyle’s Newcastle finished 13th. Scott Tysoe’s West Ham just missed out on European football, finishing 8th, but Leo Dodge’s Tottenham secured their Champions League football next season by finishing 4th. They won all three matches this month, finishing 5 points clear of Lawrence Lazewski’s Chelsea (Lazewski is now in trouble with his superiors). Below Chelsea were Cool Manager’s Liverpool and then Tim Aubel’s Portsmouth. Liam Ferguson’s Man City finished 3rd and their manager is now Insecure: he won two of his three matches this month but couldn’t close down on the top. So all this means that Tom Smith’s Arsenal are the English champions once again! They won three of their four games, drawing the fourth, to top the table by 3 points in José Mourinho’s Man United. Man United still have something to target; they play the FA Cup final against Liverpool today, June 1st.

So we’ll end the update with Europe. Liverpool beat Besiktas 3-2 to claim the Europa League, but there was of course a lot of excitement building up over the Champions League final. You don’t know who is competing it yet, but you are about to find out.

Road to the Final – Champions LeagueAs is to be expected, Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid started their Champions League campaign in the Group Stages. Drawn into Group B with Napoli, Besiktas and Celtic, they won four and drew two of their group stage games to progress in first place, ahead of Lord Weeman’s Napoli. They faced Porto in the Round of 16, losing 0-1 away but winning 3-0 at home to make the Quarter Finals where they played Atlético Madrid. Two draws meant that Volman’s team progressed against their rivals with a 2-2 draw away as opposed to a 1-1 draw at home. Ben Cee’s Inter were the Semi Final challenge, and the Italians won 3-2 in Milan. But the trip back to Spain saw Cee’s team lose 0-2 to allow Volman’s Real Madrid a 4-3 aggregate progression.

Tom Smith’s Arsenal started their campaign in Group H, but they ended it in the Semi Finals where they lost to Barcelona. Barcelona had started in Group G, drawn alongside Udinese, Austria Wien and Marseille. No points were dropped, and Haowan Madridstas’s team enjoyed a 6-2 win in France and a 9-0 home win over the Austrians. They travelled to Old Trafford for their Round of 16 tie where they lost 2-3. But a 5-0 win over Manchester United saw Barcelona into the Quarter Finals in style. There, they played Fiorentina, needing penalties to set up their Last Four tie with Arsenal following a 2-1 home win but a 1-2 away loss to Ben Taylor’s side. Arsenal won the First Leg of the Semi Final 2-0 at the Emirates, but Barcelona won 3-0 at the Nou Camp to secure their place in the final, much to the dismay of an embittered Arsenal manager.

The final took place in Espanyol’s Lluís Companys stadium. For those of you in the know, Espanyol play in Barcelona, so one team had a slight advantage over the other. Only 49,000 fans saw the match, but there was still a great atmosphere with a lot of cheering, singing and flares. Despite this, nothing much happened until extra time. Half time came and went, full time came and went, and half time in extra time, came…it didn’t quite come when Arjen Robben put Real Madrid in front, much to the delight of Lucas Volman. The team held on for the remaining 15 minutes to claim the Champions League for the second time running, in an attempt to beat their opponents in this match who won the last three of the cups before that. That is five consecutive finals in which Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona have appeared, by the way, a feat which was last performed by Real Madrid in the years 1956-1960.

Manager of the UpdateDespite the fact that by now I’ve forgotten what I wrote at the start of this update;

Jonte Rhodes, Lazio

wins this month’s Manager of the Update award. Both he and Leo Dodge won all three of their games this month, which while it is a small feat, can lead to bigger things. For Rhodes, this award embodies his whole season, which sees his team sitting six places above their expected position and guaranteed to play in next season’s Champions League. Lucas Volman, despite winning two titles this month, misses out on the award because he has won it so many times, and because of five dropped points in the form of a loss to Sporting and a draw against Valencia in the league.

Re: 60 to One

Re: 60 to One

Writer's Notes: This thread turned 300 days old on Friday. The sign-up itself will be one year old in six days time.

Update 60Years: 5, Months: 60, Days: 1819

Now follows the anti-climactic month after a season finishes, although admittedly this June has been more exciting than most. We’ll start by concluding last season’s action, given that it finished on the first couple of days of June.

The Italian Serie A played their final game, with Mikey Twigge’s Palermo attaining the biggest win of our current managers, beating Parma 4-0. Bryan McGuinness’s Roma did win 5-0, however. Udinese and Napoli won, Fiorentina beat Genoa, Lecce drew with Lazio and Reggina lost. Inter, Napoli and Lazio will enter the Champions League, Palermo and Udinese will enter the Europa League. Catania, Empoli and Frosinone join from Serie B, but they are expected to finish 16th-18th (in that order). Livorno and Torino are tipped to join Frosinone in relegation. Ben Cee’s Inter are the bookies’ favourites for the title, once again, with Napoli 2nd and A.C. Milan 3rd. Jonte Rhodes will be pleased to know that expectations have not increased too much, with his Lazio team being the odds-on team to finish 5th. The three money transfers so far have all involved our teams. James Salter’s Reggina bought Giuliano from Ben Taylor’sFiorentina for £6.25M and sold Alessandro Burchi to Udinese for £675k. Cee’s Inter sold Mario Balotelli to AZ Alkmaar for £2.4M.

In England, Liverpool won that FA Cup final over Manchester United, with Cool Manager’s team beating José Mourinho’s 2-0 thanks to two goals from Ukrainian Artem Milevskyi. In the past four years, all finalists have been the classical Big Four teams, with three being United, three being Arsenal and two being Liverpool. In the Premier League, Arsenal aren’t expected to retain their title, with Liam Ferguson’s Manchester City believed to be capable of winning the league. The Gunners are tipped second, United third and Lawrence Lazewski’s Chelsea 4th, the latter much to the annoyance of Leo Dodge who has proved his Spurs team is able to break into the Top Four by doing it the last two years. They are tipped fifth. dafuge’s Bolton are predicted to survive, with Sheffield Wednesday, West Brom and Leeds the favourites for the drop. The Fair Play League allocated England an extra Europa League place, meaning Arsenal, Man United, Man City and Tottenham represent it in the Champions League, and Chelsea, Liverpool, Portsmouth, West Ham and Fulham represent it in the Europa League. The only transfer saw Ajax buying Arsenal’s Alexandre Song for £3.5M.

Jeremy English’s England played two games this month, beating Andorra 4-0 and drawing 1-1 with Scotland, both at Wembley. If you think that’s bad, you’re right – English is a truly atrocious manager (sorry, but it’s true). Scotland top the group by one point, leading the way in qualification for Brazil 2014. So far, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Iran, Japan and South Korea have confirmed their places in the finals. Due to the first team’s poor performance, England fans consoled themselves with that of the under 21s team. They travelled to Sweden for the U21 World Championship and won a tough group featuring Spain, France and Greece, by beating both France and Greece and drawing with Spain. A two-minute double salvo eliminated Germany from the competition in the semi-final, those being the only two goals of the match. After a fierce 1-1 draw with Italy, which saw the England team concede their first goal, all that penalty practice paid off with a 4-2 win from spot kicks. Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck was the team’s top goalscorer with six, including the hattrick that beat France. Perhaps Stuart Pearce should be targeting the top job in the England hierarchy. Elsewhere in International football, Saul Goode has replaced John Toshack as the manager of Wales. He took Osasuna to relegation in 2009 but the Welsh FA obviously deemed him worthy of appointment. He started his tenure with a 2-1 win in Ukraine. Wales and England contest the same World Cup qualification group, and will meet later in the year.

The managers have hit the five year mark, an important milestone. The next big one is 10 years, but I’m not sure if we’ll have any managers by then. Still, that’s double the number of updates that have so far been written, so perhaps that is looking at a picture that is too big. Perhaps some managers might not make it to the end of this season.

My Gift to You – A Look at how the 2008-09 Real Life Premier League Managers are now doingSir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) has retired.Rafael Benítez (Liverpool) was reinstated as Liverpool manager (2009-2011) and has been managing Valencia again since December 2011.Luiz Felipe Scolari (Chelsea) has been managing Brazil since July 2011.Arsène Wenger (Arsenal) managed Stuttgart (2008-2011) and has been managing Real Sociedad since December 2011.David Moyes (Everton) has retired.Martin O’Neill (Aston Villa) has retired.Roy Hodgson (Fulham) has come back to Fulham, a team he has been managing since March 2013.Juande Ramos (Tottenham) managed Portsmouth (2009-2010) and Villarreal (2011-2012).Alan Curbishley (West Ham) has managed Blackburn since July 2011.Mark Hughes (Manchester City) has retired.Steve Bruce (Wigan) managed Southampton (March – October 2009) and has been managing Wolverhampton since October 2010.Tony Pulis (Stoke) has retired.Gary Megson (Bolton) has retired.Harry Redknapp (Portsmouth) has retired.Paul Ince (Blackburn) has retired.Roy Keane (Sunderland) has retired.Phil Brown (Hull) has managed Burnley (2010-2011) and has been managing Barnsley since April 2012.Kevin Keegan (Newcastle) has been managing Salzburg since July 2012.Gareth Southgate (Middlesbrough) has retired.Tony Mowbray (West Brom) managed Charlton (2008-2009), Reading (2009-2011) and has been managing Ipswich since January 2011.

Manager of the UpdateIt is always tenuous giving this month’s award, but;

Ben Taylor, Fiorentina

can call it his as he made a £6.25M sale. He wasn’t the only manager to make a sale, and James Salter both bought and sold, but he made the biggest one. Cool Manager did well too, despite not being at his original club, winning the FA Cup with Liverpool. Mikey Twigge got a nice and comfortable win in the last game of the Italian season. But Taylor is my pick for this month’s title.